Уро́к 8
8.1 Фонетика – Vowel Reduction
In Unit 3, you learned that word stress and position can greatly affect how vowels are pronounced in Russian. This is called vowel reduction. The rules are reviewed for you here:
VIDEO
There is variation in the pronunciation for some letters, especially ‘o’. You notice sometimes it sounds like ‘o’ and sometimes it sounds like ‘a’. How do you know when to do what?
When stressed, vowels in Russian are pronounced in their purest form. When not stressed, some vowels, retain that quality, and some are “reduced,” meaning that they become shorter in actual duration and change their sound quality. Look at the following table for information on the 5 Russian vowels that reduce /е, э, а, о, я/.
| Russian Letter | Sound in a stressed syllable | Unstressed | Unstressed 2 |
| Е | [je], like е́хать ‘to go’, or Ле́рмонтов ‘Lermontov’ | [i] or [yi] at the beginning of a word, like телефо́н ‘phone’ or Еле́на ‘Elena’ | |
| Э | [ɛ], like э́ксперт ‘expert’ | [i], like экспериме́нт ‘experiment’ | |
| А | [a], like Сама́ра ‘Samara’ | [a], immediately preceding a stressed syllable, like Сама́ра or at the beginning of a word, like астроно́мия ‘astronomy’ | [ə] everywhere else, like гита́ра |
| О | [o], like хорошо́ ‘good/well’ | [a], immediately preceding a stressed syllable, like коро́ва, or at the beginning of a word, like остано́вка ‘(bus) stop’ | [ə] everywhere else, like молоко́ |
| Я | [ya], like Я, Я́лта ‘Yalta’ | [yi] at the beginning of a word, язы́к ‘language/tongue’ | [yə] at the END of a word, like Росси́я ‘Russia’ |
Consider the following words from this unit’s vocabulary. Notice how the stressed and unstressed vowels sounds when pronounced:
| анана́с | pineapple | |
| ви́шня | cherry | |
| десе́рт | dessert | |
| колбаса́ | (smoked) sausage | |
| ма́сло | butter | |
| молоко́ | milk | |
| мя́со | meat | |
| реце́пт | recipe | |
| чесно́к | garlic | |
| я́блоко | apple |
